Still Parade - Concrete Vision

It will find an audience as a comforting companion for first-year students enjoying the last weeks of summer.

A little dash of summer and a lot of the Lips is in evidence on Still Parade's debut long player.

Like an amalgamation of the philosophical stylings of Wayne Coyne and Richard Linklater, Niklas Kramer weaves loose, summery pop that sometimes leans towards the formulaic. His phrasing, the doddery basslines and hazy synths all land squarely on the beat throughout a homogeneous, satisfying collection of sugary psych, but that's not to say the album isn't without promise.

A lot of artists are trying to fashion this kind of fuzzy-sweet pop music at the moment. Marking out your own pitch in such competition requires one of two things a) a natural knack for offbeat melodies or b) a genius with production. Preferably, both.

The drums on 'Chamber' are indicative of the whole; perky, slightly frazzled funk that doesn't outstay its welcome. The melodies are at times a little too blasé, keen as Kramer is not too impinge too strongly on a carefully wrought state of bliss. Sometimes he hits a perfect note of charming sweetness, as on the Unknown Mortal Orchestra-esque 'Morning Light', and you can see from where his template has been fashioned. Actually, the similarity to the mighty UMO is unfortunate; UMO always push their synthetic lo-fi hard enough to create jarring moments of genius, and their melodies are anything but predictable. Still Parade is too safe to attempt that reach. The overriding feeling is of comprehending stasis.

There are lovely moments despite the throwaway-ness of it all. The Badalamenti guitars that welcome 'True Love' are worth a gush, as is the neat 808 pattern that Kramer builds around them. 'Let Go' owes a debt to Supertramp and is all the stronger for it. Anyone who can hark back to that band in a sustained, solid 4 minutes is on to a winner. The album's highlight, 'A Walk In The Park', is just all-round lovely. Not many artists can sneak a Don Henley guitar solo into their work and not have the results come out sounding fatuous. Except The War On Drugs of course.

Concrete Vision is perfectly fine. It will find an audience as a comforting companion for first-year students enjoying the last weeks of summer. If Kramer is willing to move away from the centre ground and offer up a few spices in amongst the creamy sweetness, he has the talent to reach some glorious heights. Wherever he ends up, he's building from solid foundations.